Legal measures available to keep NRP on track

PETALING JAYA: Although worried about the rising number of Covid-19 cases, the government will forge ahead with the National Recovery Plan as it knows there are legal measures that can be used to control the Covid-19 pandemic even if the state of Emergency ends.

Constitution expert and lawyer N. Surendran said the Federal Constitution allows for the implementation of Emergency ordinances for another six months from the end of a state of Emergency, unless they were annulled earlier during the state of Emergency.

This means that the government need not worry about abruptly being deprived of the right to mobilise private healthcare resources to complement the currently overwhelmed public healthcare system when the state of Emergency ends on Aug 1, he added.

In recent days, there have been many reports of government hospital facilities, especially in the Klang Valley, being unable to cope with the surge in Covid-19 cases.

“Under Article 150 (7), the problem of ordinances lapsing on Aug 1 does not arise. They are valid for another six months from the expiration of an Emergency.

“The Federal Court also confirmed this in 1977 in the Johnson Tan Han Seng case concerning the lapse of Emergency ordinances when the state of Emergency was lifted,” said Surendran.

On Jan 12, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the declaration of the state of Emergency on Jan 11 was to enable the King to proclaim several Emergency ordinances to curb Covid-19.

This, according to Muhyiddin, would cover matters related to the use of private hospital assets, temporary ownership of land, buildings or movable property of private hospitals, or to request the use of private hospital resources to treat Covid-19 patients.

This way, the government would be able to get the private sector, including private healthcare facilities, to ease the burden on public hospitals.

Through this ordinance, the assistance from the private sector would include human resources, expertise, facilities, assets, test laboratories and utilities, he added.

Emergency ordinances can also be used to amend the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 to increase the effectiveness of the enforcement of this Act to contain Covid-19 transmissions, Muhyiddin said then.

Meanwhile, at the Malaysian Economic Summit 2021 yesterday, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi pointed out that countries with high vaccination rates are looking at opening up their economies despite the high number of cases there, and Malaysia too should strive towards that so that we would not “be left behind globally”.

He said that according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker, if the current rate of vaccination is kept up, Malaysia would be able to reach a vaccinated population of 75% in four months.

“We are more than a year into the Covid-19 crisis, which has changed the way we live and work.

“Unfortunately, cases are still high both locally and in many other countries, and normalcy seems almost like a distant memory.

“What seems like the end of the pandemic is approaching for certain advanced countries with higher vaccination rates.

“These countries are looking at opening up their economic sectors, despite their high cases.

“While it may be easier for some economic sectors to recover, it may take time for certain sectors to return to their previous pre-Covid-19 states, unless every country recovers at the same pace. This is the nature of global interdependence.

“The government is also committed to providing vaccinations for important economic sectors in order to improve the situation we are in,” said Nanta.

He listed programmes such as the Public-Private Partnership Industrial Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (Pikas) and Retail Industry Vaccination Programme (RiVAC) that were ramping up the vaccination rate to prepare more sectors to open up under the NRP.

Sources within the government also said that knowing that there are still legal measures that can be taken to fortify overwhelmed healthcare services, they will continue with the NRP phases as and when the conditions are fulfilled.

The transition from one phase to the next would be determined by the following criteria: the average daily cases of Covid-19, rate of bed use in intensive care units and the percentage of the population fully vaccinated.

“Our daily vaccination rate is among the highest in the world and if we follow the vaccination phases, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba has said that we will reach herd immunity by the end of the year.

“Therefore, the government does not see the need to tighten the current enhanced movement control orders.

“It all depends on whether the National Security Council would agree to the arguments brought about by those keen on speeding up the NRP phases in areas that meet the conditions,” said one source.